


Bittersweet Trick-or-Treat

by Fluxx



Series: The Spook Cruise, 2017 [9]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood Memories, Guilt, Halloween, Memories, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 13:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12410892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluxx/pseuds/Fluxx
Summary: Clary catches her mother reminiscing over their first Halloween - an odd occurrence, given her mother's great distaste for that particular holiday. Unfortunately, Clary can't remember that night very well. To appease her daughter's curiosity, Jocelyn recounts that Halloween night... Well, most of it, anyway.Prompt response for The Spook Cruise, 2017:Jocelyn & little!Clary + Halloween stories.Submit a prompt for The Spook Cruise!





	Bittersweet Trick-or-Treat

Halloween had always been Jocelyn’s least favorite holiday.

That fact didn’t entirely surprise Clary, given her mother’s attitude towards all things supernatural. Still, it didn’t help her understand it any. For most parents, the problem seemed to be the part where their kids ran around accepting treats from strangers - her mother would be completely okay with that part of it, if not for the costumes and fake tombstones and cotton cobwebs. Just another piece of the Jocelyn Fray puzzle Clary felt certain she’d never solve.

So, it came as great surprise when Clary emerged from her room, empty ice cream bowl in hand, and found her mother gazing fondly at a particular photograph.

Quiet as a mouse, Clary tip-toed closer to the couch and craned her neck to get a confirming look at the picture. As she’d suspected, it was of her and Simon, back when they were maybe six or seven, done up head-to-toe as Spiderman and Black Cat and striking their very  _best_  fighting poses. The grins they wore were absolutely contagious - Clary felt her cheeks pull wide across her face, then turned to continue her journey towards the kitchen sink.

“Odd picture to reminisce over,” she loudly remarked, at once startling her mother and making it clear she knew  _exactly_  what she’d been looking at.

Jocelyn cast a scowl over her shoulder, but before she could scold Clary about the picture her eyes spotted her daughter’s bowl and her whole mood deflated. “You didn’t finish off the neapolitan, did you?”

Clary winced, glancing over her shoulder in utter shame. “Uhh…”

Jocelyn sighed, dropping the picture back in its box of photos and unravelling herself off the couch. “It’s fine, I’ll pick up some more tomorrow.” She joined Clary in their apartment’s kitchen, leaning upon the island’s marble countertop with folded arms. Watching her daughter wash her dish, she couldn’t help but reflect on just how much Clary had grown over the years, how much she still had yet to grow, and a kind of bittersweet nostalgia began to glisten in her vibrant eyes.

“…What?”

Jocelyn blinked, realizing Clary had turned to drop her bowl into the small drying rack and caught her. “Nothing,” she hastily replied.

Clary rolled her eyes, joining her mother at the island. “You had that look again. The one you get when you start thinking about Dad.”

At that, Jocelyn grew quiet. Of course, Valentine had hardly been at the forefront of her mind, but that was the excuse she’d always given her daughter, and the one her daughter would always echo back at her like a ghastly wind across the icy waters of Lake Lyn. The time was fast approaching when Jocelyn would have no choice but to tell Clary the truth - to tell her  _everything_  - but not yet.

_Please, not yet._

Jocelyn cast a smile across her thinning face, then stood up and stuck out her hand. “You were asking about that photo,” she replied, leading Clary back over to the couch. She  _much_  preferred talking about Halloween over Valentine. “Do you remember that year?” she asked, retrieving the photo and passing it to Clary.

Clary took the picture into delicate fingertips, studying with a fond smile. “Yeah,” she replied at first, but as she continued thinking about it, she realized she didn’t remember it as well as she’d thought, and her smile began to fade. “…Or, I remember the costumes. I remember begging you for  _weeks_  to let me go Trick-or-Treating, and that you only finally allowed it because Luke agreed to go with us.” She looked up at her mother, a curious expression on her face. “I don’t remember taking this picture, though. It must have been on Halloween night?”

The familiar, sickening pitch of guilt twisted Jocelyn’s stomach, but she nodded, reaching out to take the photograph. “Yes, that’s right. You were probably too excited to remember the specifics.”

Another excuse, and another echo.

“I  _was_  quite the whirlwind child!” When silence followed her remark, Clary lowered herself onto the couch, feet folded under her and elbow propped upon the armrest. “Mom, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re still wishing I was in diapers!”

An odd kind of glisten made Jocelyn’s eyes sparkle. “More than you know,” she chuckled, a swift hand sweeping at the corners of her eyes. She adjusted herself on the couch to better face her daughter, head supported in an upturned palm. “I took this just before the three of you left. It was your first Halloween, so I wanted to…” She faltered, then awkwardly finished, “…I wanted to make sure we could remember it.” Sighing, she tossed the picture back into its box. “So much for that, I guess.”

The look upon her mothers face ground Clary’s stomach into knots. Though it was rather absurd to feel guilty over not remembering something, she  _did_  feel bad for the effect it had on her mother. Determined to cheer her up, Clary abandoned her side of the couch, twisting around to pop her head up and under her mother’s arms.

“Clary!” Jocelyn laughed, gazing down at her daughter in astonished surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Tell me about it,” Clary insisted, hands latching onto her mother’s arm and pulling it down around her like a protective hardness. She settled in where she laid against her mother, nestling into her warmth and craning her neck to beam excitedly up at her. “Maybe it’ll jog my memory!”

Jocelyn didn’t have the heart to tell Clary the truth.  _Just a little while longer._  But how could she say no to that smiling, cherub-like face? She tapped Clary’s nose, chuckling as her daughter reflexively wriggled. “It was fairly...” An unspoken impulse, like fear, caught her just short of saying “mundane,” and swapped it out for a different word. “...uneventful. Luke  _insisted_  that I go with you, that it’d be a fun break from the daily grind.”

“The ‘daily grind’?” Clary smirked. “Of what? Sniffing paint?”

“ _Hey_ ,” Jocelyn scowled, playfully pinching her cheek. “In any case, we walked all up and down our street, and then the Lewis’s. Simon’s mother had taken his sister to do the same with her friends, but we planned to meet back at their house so you kids could make candy forts.”

“Oh! I remember those!” Clary exclaimed, hand patting excitedly at her mother’s arm. She put on a wide, boastful grin. “Mine always looked  _so_  much cooler than Simon’s.”

“Yes,” her mother laughed, “because Simon’s were... How did he put it? ‘Functional Chic.’ That boy even made a fully-operating drawbridge!”

They both shared a laugh at the memory. It hadn’t been the night in question, but Clary could recall that same kind of feeling. Even if the details remained just slightly out of grasp, that would be enough, right?

That what Jocelyn had hoped, anyhow. Unfortunately, Clary was far too persistent to be satisfied just yet, twisting around at her side to hug her in a closer breed of snuggle. “What else? I feel like... we were there for a long time?”

Jocelyn grew quiet. Her hand lowered to Clary’s shoulder, hesitantly drawing delicate circles in her sweater. She studied the sweetness of her daughter’s smile, the innocence in her clutch of her sleeves, the peace her steady and calm breath.

“...Nothing unusual,” she lied in a carefully even tone. “Just an awkward run-in with a neighbor, that’s—”

“Awkward?” Clary was looking up at her now - she’d caught the tension in her mother’s voice. “Awkward how?”

Jocelyn’s smile was thin and delicate. “The poor man was lost. Got separated from his children. Luke pointed him in the right direction.”

Clary blinked at her. “Oh.” For a moment, it looked like she might not believe her mother’s words. Whether she did or not, she left well enough alone, lowering her face and giving her mother a tight squeeze. “I wish I could remember that night. It sounds like we had a lot of fun!”

“You did,” Jocelyn assured with a chuckle and pat of Clary’s arm. Her eyes flickered over to check the time on their cable box, inspiring her to urge Clary off her. “Come on, it’s late. You have to get up early tomorrow!” As Clary stood and turned to face her, they shared a grin. “Your zombie makeup has to be  _perfect_  for the  _Sophomore Haunt_!”

“With  _you_  as my stylist?” Clary smirked, then leaned down to kiss her mother’s cheek. “I’m going to be the most terrifying zombie in all of New York!”

Jocelyn elected not to correct the matter, letting Clary skip off down the hall in her ignorant bliss. As that wave of fiery hair disappeared behind her bedroom door, Jocelyn heaved a weary sigh, then warily eyed the photograph, still lying in the box. A distaste had formed in her mouth, and she reached over to grab the box’s lid and put away the collection of pictures.

_“Well, well. If it isn’t Lucian Graymark.”  
_

_“Mommy? Who’s that?”  
_

_“N-No one, Clary. Stand back.”  
_

_“Be gone, evil-doer!”  
_

_“Simon, stop that! Stay with Jocelyn!!”  
_

_“Heh. Cute.”  
_

_“What do you want, Raphael?”  
_

_“I was just taking a stroll. Didn’t think I’d run into any mutts.”  
_

_“Don’t talk to Luke like that, you big meanie!”  
_

_“It’s fine, Clary. Jocelyn, get them back to the house.”  
_

_“Nu-uh! We’re superheroes! Black Cat and I won’t let you bully Luke!”  
_

_“Oh, don’t worry, little one. I won’t hurt your friend.”  
_

_“This is terrible... I should have never agreed to this!”_

_“You stay away from us, you understand?”  
_

_“But of course. I would never break the Accords. I’ll see you around, Lucian... Jocelyn...”  
_

_“You had better hope not.”_


End file.
